The Shared Room Phenomenon
by MGD109
Summary: My first Big Bang Theory Fan fiction, Shamy all the way. Its amazing how much surrounding have an effect on a person, or a couple. And its equally amazing how much circumstances can be altered simply by a change of scenery. Something both Sheldon and Amy will discover when they go to a talk together, and misunderstanding leads to a permanent change to there relationship.
1. Chapter 1

**The Shared Room Phenomenon **

**A/N: Disclaimer- The Big Bang Theory belongs to CBS, Warner Bros, Chuck Lorre, Bill Prady. This story is meant simply for entertainment purposes. I would also like to apologise for any spelling, grammar or word misuse errors that occur in this story, I have mild dyslexia, and as such despite my best efforts, they maybe such errors in said story. Now on to the story:**

The Shared Room Phenomenon

Chapter One: The Seduction Attempts

It was a warm day in Pasadena and Leonard almost did a spit take when he heard Sheldon's plans. "You're going to a neurobiology talk with Amy this weekend?" He gasped "But I thought you considered neurobiology less useful than Geology?" Sheldon choked on his Pizza. Leonard dived forward, but he had already dislodged the food before he got there. "Don't say things like that," Sheldon shouted "are you trying to kill me?" "Not just yet." Leonard replied under his breath. Sheldon frowned "Do I need to remind you that I have acute, nay Vulcan hearing, heightened from years of being blindfolded and left in the middle of a street?" He asked.

Leonard sighed, "Never mind this, what about the talk?" Sheldon turned to him, "I don't see why this bothers you so much," he said "you are always complaining you don't have enough time on your own, now I'm going your complaining that I'm not going to be here. There is simply no pleasing some people."

"I'm not worried about you going," Leonard replied, "I'm just surprised you're willing to give up your weekend for a talk about a science you don't even recognise as beneficial." "Heresy!" Sheldon shouted. Leonard jumped back, all these years and he still hadn't gotten used to this wackjobs mood swings, he was worse than a drunk teenager. "This is neurobiology where talking about," Sheldon said, "the study of the brain, the most important of all organs, without a brain we would be nothing more than mindless bacterium, casually floating around an empty ecosystem."

He paused for breath "As such neurobiology is the highest form of biology and is by nature well above many over fields of science, including all of chemistry, even bio and neural-chemistry. As well as some forms of physics, though it is still well below integrated fields that we both work in." Leonard paused; this was possibly the closest Sheldon had ever come to saying anything to compliment his work. He felt almost touched and decided to give up on the discussion, opting to end it on this high note, rather than let it continue and except the inevitable outcome of him being brought down again.

* * *

The day of the conference came soon; always ready to the second, Sheldon lugged his third suitcase down the stairs. He turned to go back up to get the remainder of his luggage when Amy walked in. She stood there stunned as she saw his cases. "Hey Sheldon," she said. Looking up Sheldon smiled, "Hello Amy," he said, "I'll be ready in a second I just have to get the remainder of my luggage from upstairs. "You know the conference only lasts for three days?" Amy said, "of course," Sheldon replied "that is why I packed light."

He ran back up the stairs, Amy stood there staring at the cases. She pondered asking him what is in them, before deciding that they didn't have time for a lecture. Ignore it; she told herself, it was nice enough that he was willing to come to this conference, considering his inaccurate views on neurobiology. As she thought about it she sighed, all she could do was hope that one day Sheldon would come to his senses and except the superior form of science for what is was. But until that day came she would have to toralatehis views.

Sighing Amy decided it was probably best to start moving his luggage. She grasped the handle of one of the cases and tugged it. The case didn't budge. Slightly surprised at it weighing more than she expected Amy tugged again, she managed to move the case a few centimetres across the ground, but that was all. Groaning she grasped the case with both hands, and with all her might tugged. Heaving, she managed to get the case a few inches off the ground, struggling she took one step before dropping it.

Amy hunched over to gasp for breath; it was no good it was just too heavy, slowly she straightened up. As she stood there, Sheldon made his way down the stairs, another similar sized case in his left hand. He casually walked up to the case, and grasping it with his right hand he hoisted it into the air like a feather. Holding both cases, he turned to Amy "I'll go put these in your cars boot, then come back for the other two." He said, before walking off. Amy stared after him, as she did; she found a buzz passing through her body. He was so strong, so tall, so…

No she needed to snap out of that, it was a long drive to the hotel where the conference was taking place and it would do her no good, being aroused at the start of their journey, it may even put him off the journey. For the moment she would have to keep her feelings under control.

She took a deep breath, before walking out to join her boyfriend; he had already packed the cases and was heading back to get the other two. Once they had gone over his checklist twice and made certain they had taken their shots, they were ready to leave.

* * *

The drive took several hours; however neither of them really minded. Amy was mostly to busy focused on driving, so Sheldon mostly spent the time reading. Amy pointed out several times it would make him sick, but Sheldon didn't seem to care. Evidently he proved her wrong. They made the whole journey without stopping once.

Arriving Sheldon jumped out to get there room keys while Amy went to park. She paused as she went over the lectures she wanted to hear in her head, she of course was also going to be giving one so that was important to take into account. It was nothing special simply another lecture to a bunch of potential lab assistants, nothing to special. Still it was nice to be invited regardless. Now from her calculations even with that taken into account, it would still leave them plenty of free time to spend together.

Amy paused to think what they would do; eating together seemed certain. And as the likelihood that Sheldon would know any other neurobiologists here was next to impossible, Amy felt sure that they would spend virtually the whole weekend together. She smiled at the thought, a whole weekend with Sheldon Cooper; it was practically worth its weight in gold. Amy paused and let out another sigh, this time of despair. It was a shame they didn't have a more interment relationship, she was aware that she had not been interested in one initially, but that was before she had got to know Sheldon, now she would give just about anything for one. Still she was well aware of her boyfriend's flaws; he was neither willing nor ready for one yet. She would just have to be patient, it would come one day. One day, the expression was tossed around so much and from where she was standing, that one day might as well be an eternity away, but she would eventually get there. Amy let out another sigh before exiting her car and walking in.

She was snapped out of her thoughts by the sound of her boyfriend shouting "I will not stand for this level of incompetence; I demand you change it now." "I'm sorry sir," the clerk replied "there is nothing I can do, we just made a reasonable assumption based upon your statements you cannot blame us for this misunderstanding." "Yes I can. That's exactly what I can do and it's what I am doing." Sheldon shouted back.

Amy ran over, "what's the matter?" she asked. Sheldon paused upon seeing her, he seemed to calm down somewhat. "I'm afraid there has been a bit of mistake," Sheldon said calmly but still annoyed. "Amy you remember when we talked about going on this conference and the possibility of us sharing a room cropped up?" "Yes," Amy replied unsure why he was going over what they both already knew. "We both came to the agreement, that it would be best not to prevent putting unnecessary pressure on are relationship."

"Well, as it turns out when I booked are rooms for the conference, whoever took my order must have misunderstood my request, because they've given us a room together." Sheldon said calmly. Amy was taken back, first with surprise, and then her surprise turned to were going to share a room? She had always wanted to share a room, however Sheldon hadn't and not wanting to endanger the chance of him coming with her, Amy had pretended to agree with him. "And there's nothing we can do about it?" Amy asked, hopefully.

Sheldon looked up, the clerk shook his head. He sighed, "Looks like it," he replied calmly. Amy's smile faded, was he really upset that they would have to share a room? "Don't worry it won't be so bad," She began, "I can assure you I can be a good roommate for the next three days." "I'm sure you can," Sheldon replied, "however I doubt there be enough room for both are luggage in one room." He paused "So what can you give up?"

"Sheldon?" Amy cried out annoyed, "Fine, I'll leave two of my cases in your car," he said, "but if we suffer an earthquake or a fire or even a surprise war, I can't guaranty there be enough resources for the two of us." Amy rolled her eyes, not out of despair, purely out of amusement. "Well I'll get are luggage, you go and inspect are room." Sheldon said walking off, he paused "I can trust you to make the stand sweeps to ensure it's safe and sanitary to live in can't I?" Amy gave Sheldon a surprised look, "very good." Sheldon replied.

Amy sighed and taking the keys walked up, they had room 314, same as her apartment number. She paused to wonder if Sheldon had intentional asked for her to have that number to make her feel better about spending time away from home or if it was a coincidence before deciding the former was more likely. The fact he would go to that much trouble for her made Amy fell warm inside.

Opening the door she was greeted by their room; it was average sized, large enough for two people to comfortable share. There was a coach facing the wall, with a TV fixed upon the wall. Several cupboards and draws on either side of the bed, there was another room which Amy figured was the Bathroom… She paused before turning back to her previous sight, just to make sure that she had imagined it. No she was right, this room only had one bed!

A large double bed was facing out from the far wall. Amy stared at it for a second as the implications sunk in, if there was only one bed, then that meant… THEY WOULD HAVE TO SHARE A BED! Amy paused for a moment, imagining them getting into bed together. Them both standing by their side. One final meaningful look at each other. Them both getting in and lying next to each other. A cheerful Smirk. Her snuggling up to his chest. His arms wrapping around her body pulling her closer. The Lights going off. And then… Amy ran to the bathroom and ran the cold water tap over her head for a few minutes until she was cooled down. Taking a towel she began to dry off, she had to stay calm, getting to hot now would do nothing for her, besides Gerard was still in her suitcase.

Still the thoughts danced in her mind, uncharacteristically Amy felt like jumping around the room in joy. Then the bitter taste of reality sunk in. This was Sheldon she was thinking about, he would never agree to do any of the stuff she was thinking about. Come to think of it, she wouldn't agree to do some of the stuff she was thinking about…

But then again, he was still a man and he did have sexual desires. Amy knew he did, it was simply he had been ignoring and supressing them for so long now that he found it difficult to hear them anymore. But they were still there. As a Neurobiologist and a genius Amy had an in-depth understanding of human behaviour, not mention a reasonable understanding of Sheldon. Maybe, just maybe by putting all this together with her own feminine charms, she could reawaken a few dormant parts of his nature and if she could…

Her thoughts were interrupted by a sudden knocking, "Amy…Amy…Amy," smiling Amy opened the door. Sheldon stood there holding two of his cases, he had also brought up Amy's case and bag. Smiling he walked in carrying the lot, before his eyes fixed on the single bed. He dropped the cases. Amy watched his face with fascination. His expressions changed from shock, to surprise, to a sort of distant look, before shaking his head as if dismissing an idea and going back to his stoic expression. Amy waited eagerly for him to say something.

Finally he spoke, in a slightly unsure voice "well I guess I'll have to sleep on the coach for the next few days." Amy's face fell, how had she not considered this possibility? She watched disappointed as Sheldon walked over to it. However her hopes were quickly restored. It wasn't a very big coach and lying down on it, Sheldon found his legs hanging over the end, the coach ended before his knees. Groaning he hunched up and looked like was trying to make himself comfortable. He tossed back and front several times, got up and tried lying down on the other side, before getting up and switching back.

All the while Amy watched with smug satisfaction. Eventually he admitted defeat, getting to his feet Sheldon groaned "I guess I'll have to sleep on the floor," he said disappointed. Amy stared at him in shock. He would rather sleep on the solid cold wooden floor then share a bed with her? "It's okay," she said slowly and miserably "You take the bed, I'll sleep on the coach I'm smaller, I'll fit a lot better than you will, you don't need to sleep on the floor."

Sheldon stared at her like she had said she was going to die. "You can't sleep on the coach; it will ruin your back." He said, Amy looked up feeling better, "well if you can't then I will have to, unless you can think of any other alternatives?" She said, hoping he would catch her leading question the way she wanted him to.

Sheldon paused for a few moments, his face was concentrated as if he was going over every possible course of action, before through almost gritted teeth he managed "We can share… share… share a bed." Amy squeelled and jumping forward hugged him. She hit him harder than she expected and accidentally knocked him backwards onto the bed so she was now lying on top of him. Sheldon looked up at her with wide eyes of terror. "Get off me," he almost screamed, with practically no effort he threw her off.

Amy fell off and hit the ground, "Amy," he screamed jumping forward overcome with the shock of his actions, he helped her up. "I'm fine," Amy replied, she was honestly, she hadn't really hit anything. Sheldon backed away from her after she said this. He sat down and began taking a few deep breaths. Amy straightened up; she herself had been shaken by this sudden turn of events.

Amy stood there shocked, Sheldon regained his composer "I'm sorry for shouting," he said calmly "but you know I'm not good with sudden surprises and years of people pinning me down to beat me up has left me completely abridged to this form of contact, more so than all other forms of contact." Amy gulped "I'm sorry," she said feeling guilty, she was no stranger to being tackled or held down, "I just let my emotions get the better of me for a moment." "Well make certain it doesn't happen again," Sheldon snapped or rather it would have been a snap if he didn't sound so shaken. "Well…" Amy began in a small voice "the first lecture is in an hour, we should unpack."

Sheldon nodded, Amy felt like she had been kicked in the stomach. The first successful step in her plans and she had blown it by reminding her boyfriend of his unpleasant childhood trauma. Smooth move Farah Fowler. She sat there feeling small.

Sheldon began unpacking "I'll take the right side draws and cupboard, you take the left," Sheldon said, "sure," Amy muttered in a distant voice. Sheldon paused, noticing that despite suggesting the idea Amy was still just sitting there. Feeling slightly worried, Sheldon walked over to her "are you okay?" he asked.

"Fine," Amy muttered, Sheldon paused wondering for a moment, before a look of guilt went over his face. "Amy…" Sheldon began "you're not miserable because I shouted at you are you?" Amy looked up; Sheldon had a look that was pretty much the closest he came to expressing concern. Looking into his big blue eyes staring at her touched Amy. "No," she smirked, "I'm fine, just a bit shaken."

Sheldon smiled happy to see she was alright, getting up he went back to unpacking. Feeling restored Amy got to her feet, that little disaster had resolved itself a lot faster than Amy had expected it to. Now there relationship was back in stability, Amy felt safe to try and implement the first stage of her plan.

She began to slowly unpack. Sheldon had already finished and was standing there watching. "Sheldon," Amy said in her most innocent voice, "as your finished already could you help me unpack?" Sheldon groaned, "Sure," he replied in a less than interested voice. Any smiled, "okay then could you pass me the contents of my case and I'll put them away?" Sheldon shrugged, and walked over to her case. As it was already open he simply had to reach inside and pull out the clothing. First it was simply Amy's normal outfits: shirts, cardigans, long skirts etc. He took these out and handed them to Amy. Amy continued her wicked smile, knowing what he would hit soon.

Not particularly interested in helping Amy, Sheldon wasn't really paying attention to what he was grabbing from the case, his mind was presently replaying his favourite scenes from Star Trek VOY, all twelve of them. As such it wasn't till he was holding it in his hand that he realised what he had grabbed. Looking down he realised he was holding a black Victoria's secret Bra and Panties. Amy subtly chuckled.

Sheldon looked at the garments for a second, before turning to face Amy. In less than half a minute he did a sweep of Amy's body, before, somewhat gingerly handing them to her. Amy eagerly watched the expression on his face. Taking them she waited for him to say something, but Sheldon simply went back to handing her the clothes.

After a few seconds, deciding she wasn't going to just let the matter vanish, Amy spoke. "So what do you think?" She asked. Sheldon looked up "If your referring to your undergarments, then I personally am not sure I agree with your taste, however as I have no understanding of the restrictions of wearing said types of clothing, I will have to concede with your decision." Amy stood there surprised, "Penny convinced me to buy them." She quickly said, Sheldon smiled, "that would explain your apparent lapse in judgement." He replied. Amy sighed and went back to packing away her clothes.

* * *

The lectures had already begun. Sheldon accompanied Amy to all the ones she wanted to see, she herself didn't speak till the final day so they had a lot of free time. Amy was feeling a bit down, her first plan hadn't gone as well as she had hoped, still she felt confident that her second attempt would be met with superior results. Sheldon mostly put up with the lectures, several of them he found interesting, however he was a physicist and as such although interesting, nothing he heard would be in any way useful to him or his work. However he had agreed to accompany Amy for these lectures and he was not the sort of person who broke his word.

It was already well past midday, evening was approaching quickly and it was late afternoon or as Sheldon liked to call it pre-evening and both of them were getting hungry. Sheldon wanted to go for dinner but Amy insisted on seeing one final lecture. Sheldon could not understand why she wanted to see it though as the topic of the lecture was human sexual behaviour.

Groaning he agreed to go to it with her, upon entering they found the room was mostly empty, there was about twenty or so other people all together. Amy found them there seats and the two sat down. Amy smiled, although she did not agree with the lectures theories, she had read the reviews of his previous lectures. All of them had been discrediting, due to his habit and more importantly his method of getting the audience involved. Amy smiled, with any luck he would succeed in getting Sheldon involved.

The lecture soon began and in walked the speaker Dr J.H. Kier, a reasonably handsome man in his late thirties. He wore a smart suit, however at the same time he looked out of place. "Good evening," he said calmly "I am Doctor James Kier and the topic of this lecture is on neural responses to sexual stimuli, now as we are all well aware physical responses to said stimuli, such as risen heartbeat, dilated pupils and heightened body temperature are universal in human biology, but you need not take my word for it let me give you a demonstration." He walked over to the side.

"Now I'm going to show a short video, designed to provoke a sexual response in you, anyone who feels the need to leave at any point may do so." Amy smiled this is what she had been planning. Sheldon leaned in "I can't understand why you wanted to see this charlatan," he said in a calm voice although it was clear he was annoyed. "I prefer to reserve judgement till after I have seen the work first hand." Amy lied.

The film began, within minutes half the people left the room, throughout the moans and awes that were admitted from the scene Amy's eyes were fixed on Sheldon's face, waiting to see what reactions he would have. Sheldon continued to stare at the screen; however his expression was one of boredom. Every so often he would be shocked by the actions of the characters in the movie, and twice he was forced to look away but after each of these instances his shock would fade and he would return to normal. Amy kept her eyes fixed on Sheldon, scanning for even the smallest change, but none presented itself.

By the time the movie ended they were the only two people in the room, Sheldon hadn't left because as far as all could see the movie had had no effect on him and Amy hadn't left because as she had spent the whole time watching her boyfriend waiting for a change, she had not seen a single second of the said movie. Dr Kier walked back onto the stage and continued the lecture. Amy sunk into her seat, just great, another failed attempt and now they had a two hour lecture on hokum. She groaned she was already hungry and she could tell Sheldon was two, but neither of them could leave until the lecture ended.

* * *

Eventually the accursed lecture ended. Both of them practically ran out of the room, partially out of hunger, partially out of boredom. Arriving at the restaurant, they quickly found a table, ordered and were soon eating. Neither of them spoke. Amy could sense that Sheldon was annoyed with her for dragging him into that lecture. Amy couldn't help but agree with him, it was not one of her better ideas. However the day was almost over and so far she had gotten nowhere.

Amy kept her thoughts realistic, she wasn't expecting them to be diving on top each other after one day but she was at least expecting Sheldon to admit some form of attraction or at least sexual tension between them and so far her efforts had gotten her nowhere. Beating round the bush was clearly pointless; it was time to cut to the bone.

Amy paused to think, what could she do, it needed to be something direct and certain to provoke a definite reaction. Then an idea occurred to her. Amy waited till Sheldon had finished his meal; he was getting up to leave. Amy also got to her feet "you haven't finished," Sheldon observed "I'm not that hungry," Amy lied, lying to Sheldon sort of bothered her. She wasn't nor had she even been a very good liar, much like her boyfriend. Fortunately Sheldon's inability to pick up personal clues helped her get away with it.

"Well shall we go back to our room and prepare for bed?" Sheldon asked, "Sure," Amy replied. They were approaching the staircase. Amy smiled she held her breath before tripping forward purposely. She let out a brief scream. Sheldon swivelled in bewilderment. His eyes moved faster than his mind, he caught her in mid-air.

For a second they just stood there, Amy was panting, Sheldon held her close. Calmly he pushed her straightening her up and then let go of her. "Are you okay?" he asked. Amy nodded, acting like she couldn't speak. "Great well we better get back to are room." Sheldon replied, before turning and continuing to walk off to their room. Amy stared after him, strike three. Feeling almost defeated she slowly walked after him.

* * *

Arriving in the shared room, Amy found Sheldon reading. He looked up as she came in "what took you so long?" He asked calmly, Amy didn't reply, she simply sat down at the bed. It wouldn't be long now until Sheldon insisted they went to sleep, so they would get enough REM sleep to be prepared for the next day. Not that Amy disagreed with him, but still she felt more than a little disheartened that she had achieved nothing all day.

She had hoped getting him to hold her would have at least provided her with some biological clue that he did feel that way, something for her to work with, but like her previous efforts it had failed. Then another idea occurred to her, if they were going to bed then they would have to undress and if they were in the same room together when the undressed…

Amy smiled once more. She walked over, "Sheldon its ten o'clock, shouldn't we get ready for bed?" Sheldon looked up, "you're quite right;" he said and yawned "I'm getting pretty tired myself." He paused as if thinking the situation through, he looked suspiciously at the bathroom, Amy was well aware that he wouldn't want to undress in there. He turned back to her.

"Don't worry," Amy smiled, "were two grown adults, I'm sure we're both mature enough to get changed in the same room without any problems," Amy could barely say it without smirking. Sheldon stared at her, "don't worry were face the opposite way, nothing to worry about, it's not like we're going to watch each other get undressed." Amy chuckled.

Sheldon sighed and feeling tired capitulated. Amy smiled, this was her last chance and her best shot. There was no way that he would be able to resist taking a peak at her undressing if he felt anything physical about her and if he did then the meant that he was changing towards listening to his desires, in which case they could work on that and move on to more… physical… things in the future.

Now all she had to do was wait till the right moment and slowly disrobe. Amy didn't expect him to stare at her or anything like that. Sheldon was underneath it all was a true gentleman, but no red blooded male would be able resist taking at least a quick peak, all she had to do was keep a close eye on him and wait till he did.

Now all she had to do… Amy's train of thought was dismantled, for at that very moment Sheldon began to undress, he took his shirt off. Amy had often thought (and fantasised) about what Sheldon looked like naked, however up to now she had never seen him in anything less than shorts and a t-shirt. Generally what she imagined his chest looked like varied depending on the nature of her fantasies. In her realistic fantasies she had always imagined him as skinny and thin, with very little body fat to the point his ribs were clearly visible. However in her more "enjoyable" fantasies, Amy had always imagined him with a physique that she knew would rip his shirt in to shreds and a body out of those comics he loved to read. However now she actually saw his bare chest, Amy realised she had been wrong on both accounts.

Sheldon was facing away from her; however he was also facing a mirror, which revealed everything to Amy's affectionate eyes. He was thin, although not as thin as she had expected, he was also trim, but most importantly he was toned. Not overly muscular you understand, but toned, very well-toned. His abs were solid, his torso was rock hard. And he looked better than Amy had ever dreamed. Somehow this physique was pretty much the best he could have with his body type. His muscles complimenting his height, his length complimenting his tone, it was all perfectly adjusted.

Amy couldn't help but stare, a warm feeling began to emerge between her legs, her mouth began to water, Amy felt her heart rate race out of control and she did nothing to stop it. Her eyes were fixed on Sheldon's body, she watched as he gently folded his shirt up, carefully placed the clothing back in his now empty case, before turning and walking back to his position by the bed.

Amy continued to stare, watching his muscles bounce slightly as he moved; it made her shake, "hoo" she gasped. Amy's mind was overcome, her fantasies replacing her vision, as she watched he turned to face her. Still bare chested, his long her flowing, slowly he walked towards her, "Amy," his voice said softly, "Amy," once again this time louder. Standing next to each other Amy couldn't stop herself reaching out and rubbing her hand over his toned frame, as she touched she felt an explosion of sensations shoot through her body. "Amy," the voice again said softly.

"Amy," Sheldon shouted, Amy was brought back to reality. Sheldon was standing there facing her. He was still bare chest, but was staring at her, almost annoyed. Startled Amy realised he had caught her staring at him. Her faced turned pink. Sheepishly she looked up at his eyes. She tried to speak, before giving up, she poised to speak again before turning and running into the bathroom, she slammed the door behind her, and collapsed onto the floor panting.

She sat there on the floor, staring at the wall. Humiliation overcame her. How could she have let herself do that? She gulped to wonder what Sheldon must be thinking about her now. She had convinced him it would be okay to undress in the same room together and she had proceeded to stare at him like he was a slab of meat hanging at the butchers. Of all the bad choices she had made today this was without a doubt her worst. Now she had succeeded in freaking out her already reluctant boyfriend and roommate, humiliating herself in front of some whose opinion meant everything to her and wasting the first of only three days they were going to spend together. She felt like putting her head down and running straight into the mirror.

A knocking at the door grabbed her attention, "Amy…Amy…Amy," Amy gulped it was Sheldon; she didn't want to face what had just happened. She stood there hoping he would go away. "Amy… Amy… Amy," Sheldon continued to knock as he did he became more frequent, his voice started to get more worried. Amy gulped she couldn't just sit here.

Slowly she got to her feet and unlocked the door. Slowly she opened it, Sheldon stood there, he had a long towel wrapped around his lower body. Amy tried to speak, but she couldn't think of a single thing to say. But then Sheldon spoke, "I would like to have a shower, will you be much longer?" he asked. Amy didn't say anything just left the room, walking over to the bed she sat down and went back to criticising herself. Only now she felt somewhat worse, apparently even her inappropriate behaviour had failed to leave any impact on her boyfriend.

* * *

As a scientist, Amy new that when all the evidence said one thing believing something else was simply foolish. It was clear that Sheldon didn't have any physical attraction towards her; it was true what he said about there's being merely a relationship of the mind and nothing she had done had any effect on this so ever. Sadly she just sat there, as tears began to slowly fall down the side of her face.

The rest of the night passed quickly. Almost the second Sheldon left the bathroom, Amy ran in. She didn't want to spend much time with him, not at the moment, not after this major ramification to their relationship. She undressed in the bathroom, had a shower, put her pyjamas on and left. Sheldon was sitting by the left side of bed reading. He looked up to see her standing there "are you're here," he said calmly, "I guess we should got to sleep," Amy said. Sheldon nodded.

Amy walked round to her side of the bed, her head still hung the whole time. Slowly she slipped under the covers and into bed. Sheldon who was already sitting by the side waited till she had. Before taking the covers and lying down himself. He reached up and turned out the light. "Good night Amy Farrah Fowler," he said cheerfully, "goodnight Sheldon." Amy said gloomily.

Amy lay there, purposely edging towards the end of the bed. This was it she admitted to herself. She was well aware that they were both in different places in their relationship, Amy had up to now been willing to be patient, believing it would only be a matter of time till he caught up with her. However her efforts today had proven she was wrong, nothing he she had done had had any effect on Sheldon. Amy was aware she wasn't the most attractive woman, but still at least one of the things she had attempted should have prompted at least some sort of response, even her lasting failing, it should have at least left some indent.

As Amy thought back to her failings, she almost felt like crying again, oh why shouldn't she. Amy knew what she had to do, she would wait till tomorrow till she told Sheldon she what she was going through, she might at least let him have a good night's sleep. She paused to wonder what would happen when she terminated their relationship, as it was clear she had to. It was the only thing left to do; she couldn't peruse a relationship if he couldn't share her emotions. Amy sighed all in front of her future looked bleak. They would of course have to leave the conference early; there was no way they continue to share a room once they had broken up. Her first boyfriend and now she was going to have to break up with him. Amy really did feel like crying, the way they connected had made Amy feel something she had never felt before in her whole life.

Amy wondered to how her friends would react, they all cared about Sheldon, not in the same way she did, but they still liked him. And how would he react? Would he react? How would he react? Would he…

Amy's chain of thought was suddenly shattered as an arm wrapped around her and pulled her from the edge into the centre of the bed. Startled she turned to see Sheldon looking at her, he removed his arm and laid it by his side. In the dim light Amy saw Sheldon's soft blue eyes staring at her, a look of concern and worry dancing through them. As Amy stared their eyes locked.

Neither of them said a word, they just continued to look deeply into each other's eyes and as they did they both smiled. "It's a cold night," Sheldon said, "It makes more sense for us to be closer together." Amy nodded slowly, neither of them wanted to break there gaze. As they looked Amy felt a warm fuzzy feeling spreading through her body, as she did her fears and worries melted into nothing. "Well goodnight, Amy Farrah Fowler," Sheldon said eventually, "Goodnight, Sheldon Cooper." Amy replied cheerfully.

Both turned over and still smiling let their heads rest on the pillow. Amy chuckled "It did leave an indent," she mummed to herself. In minutes both of them were asleep, both with large smiles on their faces.

* * *

**Hope you enjoyed reading, I will add the second part soon.**

**Please review.**


	2. Chapter 2

**The Shared Room Phenomenon **

Chapter Two: Night Terrors

It was 2:36 Am and throughout the night silence echoed. Sheldon and Amy continued to lay next to each, both sound asleep. Then for no apparent reason Amy started to toss and then to moan. Sheldon was a heavy sleeper so he didn't notice this sudden change. Amy continued toss, "no, no please." Amy mummed, "no not that, anything but that, please. I'm begging you." she gasped, still tossing and turning in shock. Suddenly Amy started Screaming, "NO, PLEASE DON'T."

Sheldon sat bolt upright in shock. "What's going on?" He exclaimed. Amy was shaking and waving her arms around violently still screaming. Her right arm smashed into his face. Sheldon was knocked back and startled, but he recovered quickly; frantically he grabbed Amy's arms and pinned her down. Amy was still screaming "NOT THAT, PLEASE PLEASE DON'T, I'M SORRY, I'M SORRY, NO PLEASE." "Amy," he shouted "Amy wake up, your dreaming, Amy." Amy's eyes fluttered open. Panting she awoke to see Sheldon's worried face looking down on her.

He let go and swivelled round back to her side, Amy stared at him for a moment. Before her eyes began to water, she started to cry. Tears ran down her side as she sobbed. Sheldon pulled her in close, wrapping his arms around her. "It's okay" he said softly "you were only dreaming, it was just a nightmare, your safe now." As he spoke he rubbed her back softly. Amy snuggled up to his chest still crying.

It was about then that both of them realised what was happening. Sheldon loosened his grip and Amy pulled out leaving his arms still on her shoulders. Both of them faced each other, tears were still running down Amy's face however the surprise at what was happening had temporarily diminished her sadness. For a few moments there was silence and then Amy spoke. "You were comforting me." She said, her voice was cracking slightly "I was." Sheldon replied, clearly just as surprised as she was, his accent was cracking. He paused "do you want me to stop?" Sheldon managed. Amy slowly shook her head; tears began to flow down her face again. Sheldon pulled her in close just as Amy started to bawl.

Partially lying on their side, Sheldon held Amy close to him. He was surprised as she was at his actions, almost his whole life he had been terrified of physical contact. He remembered when he was four when he first started to read about bacteria, something he often regretted. After he finished he found he could no longer let anyone not even his mother touch him ever again. Every time anybody did, all he could think about was the millions of bacterium, slipping and sliding all over his skin, like little leaches and worms. Each individual parasitoid crawling onto him. All of them continually trying to pierce his skin and poison his blood stream.

And yet with Amy it felt different. She wasn't like any situation he had previously encountered. Although a nagging worry about germs still echoed through his mind, somehow he was ignoring it, somehow for the first time in his life he didn't care about the germs, he didn't care about possibly getting sick. He just wanted to make Amy feel better and this was making her feel better. So he straightened up slightly and continued to hold Amy close. Besides Amy's standard of hygiene was second only to his own, it was unlikely he had anything to worry about any way.

Amy was already feeling better, snuggling up to her boyfriend's chest made her feel better; she nuzzled her head against Sheldon chest. It felt so good, as she recently had discovered her boyfriend was a lot more toned than she had expected and holding that in mind, it made the experience all the better.

Amy hated having night terrors, she always had, but hating them hadn't stopped her having them. Even when she had thought she had gotten rid of them, they always came back. Although not on Sheldon's level, Amy was well aware that she had an ego, and was also well aware that she had a large ego, she was well aware her ego was larger than pretty much everyone she knew, other than Sheldon of course. But she was a genius. She had every right to have a big ego, after all she had already achieved more than most of her counterparts and more importantly she had the potential to achieve more than all of them. Her mind was equal, nay greater than the likes of Fere, Golgi or Dale.

And that was the reason she so hated having night terrors. Amy understood they were the results of unresolved trauma manifesting its self in her subconscious mind, but that never made her feel even an ounce better. They often happened when she was away from home but sometimes, particularly during bad patches she would have them at home as well.

And the reason Amy hated them was how they made her feel. Waking up from one she was always left panting feeling terrified, alone, tiny and insignificant. Submerged in a giant pool of blackness and nothing. No one around her, no one to help her, just no one.

But this time it had been different, oh so different. Amy was still afraid; she was still shocked and shaken and scared. She still felt small and insignificant and she still felt like she was surrounded by darkness. But this time she wasn't alone.

The sensation of Sheldon holding her close had changed the entire dynamic. Normally it took about an hour to recover from a night terror and another hour to get back to sleep, but this time she was already feeling better, she had already stopped crying. In fact she felt well enough to break out of her hug, but she could not bring herself to, she couldn't end it now, it just felt so good. This was the most physical contact she had gotten out of her whole relationship, how could she break it off prematurely?

So she just lay there, nuzzled up to his chest and as she did she started to smile. Her fear was now gone, she felt too good to be afraid. And although she still felt shaken, being so close to Sheldon made her feel better. The sensation of his strong arms wrapping round her frail body was just like she had dreamed it would be. She knew he would protect her, she knew he would keep her safe.

As Amy partially lay there, several things began to occur on her. The first was just how tall Sheldon was. Amy was well aware Sheldon was a tall man, she had never complained about this nor would she ever. She found his height one of his most attractive features. This wasn't uncommon, from a biologic point of view, being attracted to height made perfect sense as greater height in males was normal synonymous with health, strength and virility all traits desirable in a successful mate, particularly in passing onto offspring. It also coupled with the traditional, social cultural view of desiring a partner to be strong and tall to protect the weaker partner, thus keeping them safe from the harsh world, thus fitting into two classes of relationship criteria. Plus he also had lovely long legs.

However this was the first it had really dawned on her how large the gap between the two of them was. Amy was nuzzled up to Sheldon's chest, he had tilted his head down, so it was just above hers and yet her feet were only just below Sheldon's. Looking at him Amy felt tiny, but not in the same way she normally did in this situation. It wasn't like she was insignificant, it was like she was protected, like she needed to be protected and yet in not in a bad way, she wanted to be protected, she could feel it. It was then that she realised something else, an interesting point on the dynamic of their relationship had just occurred to her.

Technically in their relationship Sheldon was the dominant partner, he made most of the decisions he set most of the terms. Amy had no problems with this arrangement, she had realised this was how there relationship was going to turn out shortly after they first met, it had been obvious that he was going to take this position in their relationship (not that she had realised the scale their relationship would amount to at the time). After all he was clearly a leader, his strong will, quick wit, charismatic nature and high intelligence, coupled with his natural impressive height and strong but silky smooth voice, thus providing an additional psychological factor to back him up made him perfect for this position, no sane person could even consider denying it.

However due to the complicated nature of their relationship, brought on by emotional issues that multiple childhood traumas had created, there were times when Amy had to take a maternal role in their relationship. Up to now she had always disliked side of their relationship; she was his girlfriend, not his mother. Their relationship was built on a mutual respect and admiration of one another, reinforced by an enjoyment of each other's company, extended with the possibility to evolve into future intimacy and potential coitus at a later date (but not too late though hopefully). So when she had to act in a parental or nurturing role, it had always annoyed Amy. She had been forced to endure it, merely to preserve their relationship and yet now the roles were reversed, she was beginning to rethink this opinion.

The way it felt to have Sheldon's strong arms wrapped around made her smile. It made Amy feel safe and secure and it was clearly a nurturing if not paternal role he had taken. He was there to help and make her feel better in her time of need. Was it possible this was how he felt when he needed her to maternal towards him? If it was then she could understand why he sometimes required her to take the role she had formally hated. As she thought about it, Amy realised that maybe she had been too hasty with her judgement. After everyone needed someone to be nurturing to them at some point or other in their life, as a scientist Amy had read multiple psychological studies on the effects of lack of nurturing upon brain development and its repercussions in later life.

As Amy thought all this through, Sheldon had let his arms lower slightly so he was now holding Amy even closer. He hadn't noticed he had done this though. Holding Amy close to him Sheldon was truthfully unsure what he was feeling, it was difficult to describe. He was calm but worried; he was warm, cheerful but unstable, uncertain but certain. At any other time this confusion would have driven him to running the nearest hospital and demanding a brain scan to make sure he hadn't developed a tumour, but for some reason nothing felt wrong not even the fact he didn't feel anything was wrong didn't feel wrong, something that would have normally shaken him beyond belief.

So the two of them just continued to partially lie partially sit there holding the other close. Neither spoke, they were both to busy thinking. Then after several minutes of silence Sheldon spoke. "Amy," he said softly. "Yes?" Amy asked. "Are you feeling any better?" Amy sighed; he was getting uncomfortable holding her. Sheldon hadn't meant it to be taken that way; he was simply asking whether he was making her feel better. But Amy, through a mixture of surprise at him actually comforting her and the expectation he would break up like he had on all the previous occasions they had been this close, took it as an expression declaring that her time was up. Still she had gotten the experience she couldn't complain it didn't last for ever and that reassured her.

But still she was a bit saddened, Amy broke out of his grip and sat up straight next to him "yes Sheldon," she said "I am feeling better." Sheldon stared at her surprised by her breaking away from him. He felt strange. On the one he knew he should be happy Amy was feeling better and didn't need him to hold her close anymore, furthermore the part of his mind that remembered his fear of germs had stopped buzzing. And yet for some reason, he felt… sad. Well saddened. He couldn't understand it. He paused to contemplate whether or not he should take up having that tumour check.

His thoughts were interrupted when he noticed Amy, she was still shaking slightly. "Why are you shaking? I thought I had made you feel better?" Sheldon asked perplexed and some strange reason disappointed by this reaction. "Oh you did," Amy quickly said sensing his disappointment at his apparent failure to soothe her. "It's just night terrors leave me shaken, they always have." Sheldon paused, "excuse me a minute." He said before grabbing his wallet and his dressing gown, putting it on he walked out of the room.

Amy was stunned by this abrupt exit, why had he left her? Where had he gone? Amy shuddered slightly; she was still sitting in the dark. Reaching for the light, Amy realised just how dark the room had been. She was aware that Nyctophobia was a perfectly rational fear; it was simply an example of the natural fear of the unknown, as well as being an evolutionary primal fear, left over from man's more primitive times, after all most predators hunted in the dark. Never the less she still felt more comfortable when the light flickered on and the room was no longer dark.

Amy relaxed slightly; she was still sitting upright in bed. Deciding she wouldn't be able to get to sleep like this, Amy got out of bed and walked over to the coach. She sat down; looking at the clock she found it was 2:55. She groaned but the lectures started late today, so maybe sleeping in wouldn't be so bad. However her thoughts continued returning to the fact that Sheldon had left so suddenly. Why had he left? She replayed the thought through her mind over and over again, and didn't take long for a nasty idea to creep into her mind.

Had he left because holding her close to him had made him to uncomfortable to stay with her?

Amy gulped, she tried to tell herself that that was silly, she hadn't forced him into anything he had held her of his own volition. But she couldn't get the thoughts out of her mind and with each thought another window of doubt and worry was opened in her mind. She tried to reassure herself again, but it came to nothing. This was Sheldon Cooper she as talking about, the same Sheldon Cooper who was almost famous for his manic fear of germs and severe problems of having others touch him. Amy's mind returned to the previous day when he'd literally thrown her off him while practically going through a panic attack, all because she tried to aggressively hug him. As she sat there Amy began to feel guilty, why had she prolonged there contact? She hadn't needed it to go on so long; she was feeling better long before the end. But she had let it carry on, because she had enjoyed it. She'd let it carry on to the point where he had to ask her if he could let it go on. Why couldn't she have broken off before it made him uncomfortable? Now she had driven him out. He may not come back for hours.

Amy stood up, almost overcome with a mixture of worry and guilt. Walking over to the mirror she looked back at herself. Why was it when anything was going her way, she had to ruin it by pushing her luck to the very limit, at which point she always broke it. Could she not except when something was enough, could she…

Her self-harming criticisms were interrupted by the door opening, Sheldon walked in; he had two cups in his hands. "Here you go," he said handing a cup of hot chocolate to Amy. Amy looked up at him surprised "when I was a boy my mother used to make me hot chocolate when I had nightmares." Sheldon explained. Amy paused for a moment, before smiling, she then began to laugh.

Sheldon stared at this reaction dumbfound, "why are you laughing?" he asked. Amy chuckled "no reason," she replied. Sheldon stared at her for a moment, before dismissing it as another unexplainable trait of the naturally chaotic universe he was forced to live in. He handed Amy her drink before sitting down next to her.

Amy looked at Sheldon as he did; he was watching her as if he was waiting for something. Not sure why Amy took a swig of the hot chocolate. It did taste good, Amy sighed. "Thank you," she said, "that was a very sweet gesture, but you didn't need to go out in middle of the night to get me a drink." "I'm your boyfriend," Sheldon replied "It's my job to make you feel better when you're sad; you make me feel better when I'm sad, why should I not return the favour."

Amy stared at him, the two eyes met. And they both smiled. Amy chuckled, to think only a few hours ago she had been seriously considering ending this relationship. What had she been thinking? She realised then she must never let Sheldon know how close she came to making the biggest mistake of her life. Amy relaxed into the sofa and took another sip of her chocolate. Sheldon's eyes were still fixed upon her.

"So," Sheldon said unsurely, he paused trying to think of what to say next. He had almost never been in the situation where he had to comfort anyone before and as such he wasn't really certain what to do next. Come on Cooper think, your one of the greatest minds alive surely you can think of something, he told himself. And then an idea occurred to him.

"Amy," he said, "do you want to tell me what you were dreaming about?" Amy waited hoping he would finish with his standard "please remember no, is a perfectly acceptable answer." But for once he didn't. Amy gulped, mixed feelings spread through her. On the one hand she didn't want to talk about her dreams, it was embarrassing, it was humiliating, and she couldn't let her boyfriend know about it. But on the other hand, Amy felt touched. Sheldon wanted to hear her problems; he never wanted to hear anyone's problems.

Sheldon waited for Amy's answer, he was unsure why he had asked. Normally other people's problems were simply another thing he had to put up with. But this was his girlfriend, if something was making her sad it was his duty to make her feel better. Once again he was baffled by his mixed feelings, he shouldn't want to hear her problems and yet he did or should he want to hear them? It was all too confusing to think about, so Sheldon forced them all out of his mind and focused entirely on Amy.

Eventually Amy said "Sheldon, it was just a silly little dream, it's not important." Sheldon stared at Amy surprised by this dismissive response. "Amy," he said calmly, but at the same time with a tone of annoyance "that silly little dream caused you hit me in the face, is the reason we are both up at 3:17 in the morning and shook you like an earthquake. If that's a silly little dream, I pray you never find yourself facing a serious one or else it would probably kill you." He snapped. He stopped his eyes opened wide in horror, what had he just said.

Amy stared at him shocked, but Sheldon was far more shocked than she was. He felt like he had just stabbed his own heart with an Ice Pick. "I'm…I'm sorry," he managed, his voice cracking slightly. "It's okay," Amy replied, "and you're right it wasn't just a silly little dream, it's a recurring nightmare I've been having for years."

Sheldon's thoughts were snapped back to reality, "you poor thing, do you want to tell me what it's about?" Amy gulped, sensing her worry Sheldon edged closer to her. "If you don't want I understand," he said calmly "I only want to help." Amy smiled, "you do," she said calmly, "that's all you want to do." Sheldon was confused why she had repeated his very words, but deciding it wasn't important he instead once again edged closer. "Okay I'll tell you." Amy said. "Just promise me one thing," "Anything." Sheldon replied. "Don't let what I'm going to tell you change your opinion of me," Sheldon chuckled. "Amy you could tell me you had murdered twenty seven virgins because they sneezed on you and I wouldn't care." He said calmly, before adding "although if it is that, I would require you to sign an agreement promising not to ever murder me." Amy chuckled not sure if he was serious or joking.

"Okay," Amy began, "I keep dreaming I'm reliving one of my worst memories," she paused to gulp, "but before you go into this I think I should provide some background information so you can fully understand the events of the story." Sheldon nodded, why couldn't everyone else be so considerate, most people would just start ranting on about how some people he had never heard of had done something he didn't know what it was and carry on not giving him an opportunity to ask questions or make sense of their babbles.

"You see Sheldon," Amy began "growing up I was always a late developer," she paused for a moment "well physically at least, mentally I was beyond most of my teachers by the time I was mine." Amy smirked and Sheldon smiled almost as if he was saying "that's my girl." Amy's smiles faded. "But physically I was always behind everyone else, when I was fourteen; I still could have passed for and I was often mistaken for a nine year old."

She shook her head, "at fifteen I was still below five feet. I was more undeveloped than an apple pip." Amy paused, her eyes started to water "and they never let me forget it," she started to cry, Sheldon quickly grabbed her and pulled her in close for the second time that night. "My whole childhood they used to bully me," Amy sobbed, "when I was a child I was too weird, to strange, to smart, they used to ignore me, they used to mock me and when I became a teenager it just got worse."

Amy paused saying this hurt her in several ways but she was down the rabbit hole, it was too late to stop, all she could do was ride out the pain and get to the end as quick as she could. "I never had any friends throughout high school, no one wanted to know me, not even the other nerds. They all told me I was a freak, an ugly freak who was destined to spend the rest of my life alone and die in ditch and have my body untouched as even the worms and the maggots wouldn't want to be with me." As he heard this Sheldon noticed his fist was clenching. For some unknown reason hearing this was making him angry.

"Well the nightmare that was having, is about events that happened 1996, shortly before my sixteenth birthday. By that point I had finally started growing up; I was finally catching up with my peers. It was a warm spring day and it was on that day I made one of the worst mistakes of my life." Amy stood to shudder. Sheldon continued to hold her close, once again this comforted her, but the bad memories would not stop hurting regardless.

"I don't know what possessed me." Amy began, her voice was cracking with sadness, "but I decided it would be a good idea to leave the safety of the library and go watch the cheerleaders rehearse. I don't know why, they hated me, they all hated me, everyone hated me. But something inside me made me do it, so I left the library. Classes had ended for the day you see, but I had stayed behind to get some extra work done. I crept out and there they were on the football field."

Amy gulped, she looked like carrying on this anecdote was causing her great pain, but she still couldn't bring herself to stop. "Well I didn't want them to see me, so I went and hid in the bushes. And there they were twenty of the prettiest, most popular girls in the whole school right in front of me." Amy gulped, "I just stood there watching them. I don't know why I did, at the time I thought it would be fun to see them practice, but looking back I can't help but wonder if I was secretly hoping that now that I was finally changing I might become one of them." Amy paused, once again she was crying, "how could I ever be stupid enough to hold thoughts like that?"

Sheldon's fists were now clenched so hard they were hurting his own hands. "Then they finished their practice and went into get changed. I should have left then, I was safe, they hadn't seen me and it was getting late, I knew the last bus was leaving soon. But for some reason I followed them."

Amy gulped, "and once again there they were, getting changed right before me. And I continued to watch them, watching there great figures exposed and shifting and for a moment I allowed the possibility that one day I may be like that." And for a second Amy smiled, before it was shattered. "Then the inevitable happened, one of them spotted me."

"So I ran," Amy gulped, she was practically choking by this point, "that was the second biggest mistake I made that day. I should have stayed, should have made up some excuse and left quietly, I should done a lot of things, but instead I panicked and I ran." Amy shuddered, "And next thing I knew I was being chased across a field by a mob of angry girls."

"Now as you remember I was underdeveloped for my age and the most exercise I ever did was walking up the stairs to the library. It was merely adrenaline that got me running in the first place, and that didn't last very long. They caught me with minutes and pinned me down. Then they circled me like a wake of vultures. They demanded to know why I was spying on them. I tried to explain, but I was so scared all I managed to reveal was I had been watching them throughout practice and that just made it worse, it made more angry and then they went for me."

"First they called me names and then they accused me of being a pervert and a lesbian. Then they started to attack me, all of them, twenty legs kicked me over and over again. And then one of them came up with an idea."

Amy had already started crying, now she was barely getting words out through the tears. "They carried me into the groove at the bottom of our schools football pitch and then…" She gulped "Then…" she stopped again, "then… Then they stripped me to my underwear, poured honey over my head and chest and tied me to a tree. And then they left me there. It was four hours before my mother found me. I was left there alone for four hours, with nothing other than the sickening feeling of the honey running down my neck and stomach, and the buzzing of the flies that were getting caught in it."

Sheldon arms wrapped around Amy even tighter, "those…" he paused mustering his anger before finally finishing his sentence "bitches." He said angrily. Amy was slightly shocked by this she had never heard Sheldon use that sort of language in three years they had known each other. "You poor, poor thing," he said sadly, his fists still clenched.

"It was my own fault," Amy sighed, "If I hadn't been so stup…" Amy began but she never finished. At that point Sheldon suddenly pushed her back, while still holding his arms around her, so that she and he were now staring each other in the eyes. "Amy Farrah Fowler, I will here you say such things about yourself, you are not weird! You are not strange!" You are not a freak! You are not UGLY! You are not a pervert! And most importantly of all, YOU ARE NOT STUPID! I will not let you talk so lowly of yourself."

Sheldon paused, trying to calm down, he took several deep breaths before turning back to Amy. Amy continued to stare at him shocked. He had never had an emotional reaction like this before since she had met him. She had caused him to do so many things he had never done before…. Sheldon gulped. "Amy," he said calmly but at the same time forcefully, "you are the smartest, kindest and sweetest girl ever to walk the face of this earth." As he continued to speak his voice got more and more forceful. "To hell with what a group of bimbos thought eighteen years ago, right now there probably starving to death, dancing for quarters or married to some ancient rich guy. You're a successful, renowned, respected and accomplished scientist. You've won this great competition that they call life, don't let anyone ever tell you anything different, because there wrong, there all wrong!"

The two of them sat there in silence for several minutes, there gaze broken. Neither knew what to say, both were equally surprised by this emotional outburst. Sheldon could only think of one time he had felt anything even remotely similar to this, six years ago when he had called Penny out on her hypocrisy when she almost drove Leonard into giving up his beloved collection. But what he had just done was miles above anything that had happened then. Amy looked at her boyfriend, never before had she heard him be so forceful. Sheldon was generally accustomed to getting his own way and he would argue when he didn't but he had never put passion like that into any argument or complaint or anything she had ever heard about him being in. But the surprise quickly began to melt as the second part of his speech began to connect in her mind.

Amy's expression started to flicker, she had already stopped crying but now she only looked uncertain. Finally in a cracking voice she finally asked, "Sheldon do you really think those things about me?" Sheldon gulped "I've always thought about you that way and I was will, because they are true." He replied, his accent cracking slightly. The two's eyes met, for several minutes they just stared, as they did both smiled. "Oh Sheldon," She managed. Forcing herself forward she hugged him. She paused unsure, but before she could even have second thoughts his arms wrapped around her pulling her closer to him.

For the second time that night she snuggled up to his chest, resting her head against it, once again she smiled. Sheldon gulped once again he found himself silenced by his own actions. He knew this should worry him and yet it didn't. A part of his mind might occasionally start to speak out, but before it even finished it was already crushed back down.

He paused unsure how to continue and then with a slight shudder another idea came to him. "Amy," he said calmly, "if it makes you feel any better, I think I should tell you that I understand what you went through and how it must have hurt you." Amy looked up slightly "you do?" she asked, Sheldon nodded "my own childhood was no bed of roses, I never had any experiences of high school mind you as I never went and from your description I'm glad I made that choice."

Amy sighed, "You were very lucky." She managed; "still," Sheldon went on, "I did have a number of similar experiences to your own, only for me the problem was the opposite of yours." Interested Amy sat up slightly, but did not break there connection, she would never forgive herself if she broke her second chance in one day at this. "What do you mean?" Amy asked.

"Well," Sheldon began, "were as you were a late developer, I was always an early one." Amy paused confused how this could be a problem, "I don't think I understand, how could cause you problems?" she said calmly. "Well," Sheldon began, "let me put it this way. You know I'm quite tall?" "Of course," Amy replied, her thoughts returned to her earlier contemplation on how she loved his height. She smiled. "What is it?" Sheldon asked. "Just thinking about your height." Amy replied truthfully.

"Well," Sheldon began "would you believe me if I told you I crossed the six foot barrier when I was fourteen." Amy sat upright, "fourteen?" She asked shocked, "you were already above average at fourteen?" "I have been above average since I was six years old," Sheldon replied calmly, "in height at least." He clarified.

"Before my sixth birthday, kids used to mock and beat me up because they were jealous of me being smarter than their parents, then after that they started to hate me because I was always taller. I taller than all of them, I was the tallest person in my class for almost six years. And they all hated it, when I ever got tripped up in the halls someone would always shout timber and then they would laugh. When I was eleven I was taller than most of the older children in the school, even the ones with a gap of three years I was still taller than them. And they hated that to, the fact that they were forced to look up at me, they all hated it."

He paused to gulp, "and of course they didn't let me leave without getting me one last time." He paused before continuing, Amy stared at Sheldon worried. He had been that tall for so long? She had always been to short throughout her life and he had apparently always been too tall, in a strange sort of way it made her both worried and happy they had each been the victim of extremes.

Sheldon gulped, "The closest incident suffered to yours happened shortly after my twelve birthday, I had graduated from school and I was going to college in the fall, but I guess my school mates decided they wanted to get me on last time before I finally out of their grasp."

"It was just about two o'clock in the afternoon, July 9th 1992; I was out walking by the side of the river as I often did when my parents were fighting when they jumped me. I didn't see exactly who jumped me, but I was so used to it happening I recognised the people by amount of pressure they put on my back. Holding me to the ground they blindfolded me. Then they started to beat me up, just like they always did. Eventually they must of got tired of punching me or watching my blood spill, so instead they led me off, one of them had to help me along as in there assault they had managed to dislocate my left leg. After about two hours they finally got to where they were taking me. They took the blind fold off and I found I was in the middle of nowhere; they then made me kneel and tied a flashlight to my head, and tied me to a pole. One of them pinned a sign into my chest, it read "please enjoy are knew street light." Sheldon gulped, "then they left me in the middle of nowhere."

He shuddered as the thoughts went through his mind, "What happened next?" Amy asked shocked at the events she had heard, "my father finally found me," Sheldon replied shuddering, "two days later." Amy stared at him horrified, "you were left tied to a pole for two days when you twelve just because you were taller than they were?" Amy screamed. Sheldon nodded solemnly.

Amy suddenly grabbed Sheldon, forcing her arms around him. "You went through all that? And I had the audacity to moan about my own experiences?" Amy gulped feeling guilty. "I should be comforting you," she said sadly, holding her head slightly "what you went through was much worse than anything I ever suffered." Sheldon seemed slightly uncomfortable with the way Amy was holding him. "Thank you for the gesture Amy," he said calmly, "but really you don't need to comfort me."

"You comforted me," Amy said, "why shouldn't I help you?" "No you misunderstand," Sheldon said calmly as he broke out of her grip, "you don't need to comfort me because I've gotten over it, it doesn't bother me anymore, the memory it's still painful, but apart from that it doesn't bother me." Amy stared at him, "It doesn't bother you?" She asked shocked, "you went through all that and it doesn't bother you? Buts that's impossible."

Sheldon chuckled, "not at all." He said calmly, "it was one event that happened over twenty years ago," Sheldon replied, "Why should I let it bother me? It's not important, it's just a bad memory, you can't change the past, so why dwell on it? Besides it's only the really bad memories that bother me." Amy stared at Sheldon this time in awe. He went through all that, and who knows what else and he was able to simply move on from it? "You're a stronger person then I'll ever be Amy," mummed. Sheldon shook his head, "I'm not," he replied, "I've simply got more practice at it than you have, I've just got seven years on you, that's all I've got."

Amy stared at him again; he was actually denying a statement that he was better than someone else. She paused to stare at Sheldon; just to it generally was Sheldon. It touched Amy that he was willing to do all these things for her; he never did the same things for anyone else, just her. "Are you feeling better?" Sheldon asked. Amy nodded, "then shall we go back to bed?" Sheldon asked, Amy paused, before nodding. "Sure," she said with a yawn and a smile, "but first thank you," "you don't need to thank me," Sheldon replied, "no," Amy said "I do, I really do."

The two of them got back into bed, Sheldon turned the light out and was soon asleep. Amy laid there looking at him before lying down; I have a wonderful boyfriend she mummed to herself before nodding off. Sheldon smiled, somewhere in his mind he said "And he's got an equally wonderful girlfriend." Amy smiled. Both of them laid there smiling at their pleasant dreams.

* * *

**Hope you enjoyed, I will post the Third and (probably) final chapter soon.**

**Please Review.**


	3. Chapter 3

**The Shared Room Phenomenon **

Chapter Three: A Simple Misunderstanding

It was six o'clock Sunday evening and as usual the gang was having dinner in Leonard and Sheldon's apartment minus of course Sheldon and Amy who were still away at the lecture. Although they were all somewhat enjoying not having the extremes present and were glad to be able to eat without any long lectures on obscure and confusing historic factoids or slightly worry questions and statements on female hygiene and bodily functions, everyone in that room was already missing the two of them, in their own way at least. Not that any of them would admit it. Truthfully without Sheldon and Amy the meal was quite quiet.

"So I wonder how Sheldon and Amy are doing at the talk." Bernadette asked. "There probably enjoying it, after all it sounded reasonably interesting." Leonard said, "Still it was nice of Sheldon to agree to go with her, he wouldn't normally do such a thing." Bernadette continued. "I wouldn't bet it was that nice." Penny said cheerfully, "I bet she had to drag him out kicking and screaming." She smiled as if enjoying the metal picture.

"Actually he was very happy to go," Leonard replied, "He seemed happy that she had asked him to come with her." "I guess are own private Tin man finally got that heart the wizard promised him." Howard murmured "let's hope he doesn't send it back." "Regardless it will do them some good to be together, I don't think they get enough couple time." Bernadette said smiling. "It's probably a good thing they don't," Howard joked, "if you put those together for two long, it's only a matter of time before the topic of world domination comes up and there both mad enough and smart enough to try it."

Bernadette gave him a serious look and he shut up. "So what is this talk about?" Penny asked, "Recent breakthroughs in neurobiology and Neuropsychology." Leonard replied. Penny paused, "so new stuff," she finally said. Leonard nodded.

"Of course Amy's giving a lecture herself." He continued. Penny sort of sat up, "Is she? Buts that's important? Shouldn't we be done there to support her?" "Oh I don't think that's necessary." Leonard replied. "Come one, she's a friend, and she's going to be speaking in front of a large crowd." "She has given lectures before." Leonard replied. "Come on." Penny said again. "I can't go, I've got work tomorrow." Bernadette said. "So do I." Raj said. "I'm just not going." Howard muttered. Penny's eyes turned to Leonard. "I do have tomorrow off, but I was going to…" he began, but a single look cut him down, "I'll go." "Great." Penny said. "So what exactly is the lecture she's giving on?"

"It's about her addiction studies, examining potential correlations between charges in surface mass and figure in the clusters of the cerebellum, following repeated examinations and dissections of the cerebral cortex's of lower forms of simians. And how said correlations could be used in furthering our understanding of how addictions are caused by multiple ecstasy inducing recreational drugs form and how they could potentially be treated." Leonard replied. Penny just stared at him for a moment. "Okay," she finally said "I've known you guys for about six years now and your all well aware my academic level has pretty much remained the same since I was sixteen, so I've got to know, why do you continue to talk to me about these sorts of technobabble as if you expect me to have any idea what so ever you're talking about? Do you enjoy watching me pause and being forced to repeat the dumbed down version or do you just forget?"

There was a paused and then silence, and then Leonard said "pretty much." There was murmuring of agreement and with that they all went back to eating leaving Penny to try and figure what that statement meant.

* * *

Many miles awake Sheldon and Amy were also eating dinner. There day had gone pretty much like yesterdays, smiling she thought back to yesterday. The lectures hadn't started to later than normal, which played in the favour following the incidents that had happened the night before. Amy was still thinking about them a bit. They had awaked a bit later than normal, as was to be expected. Following the terrible fiasco that had occurred when they had tried to get changed in the same room, they had agreed to simply get changed while the other was washing, which as much as Amy disliked admitting it, worked better for the two of them.

They had then gotten breakfast, and after breakfast had spent most of the day going to virtually all the lectures. But that was the reason they were here so neither of them really complained. Sheldon was a bit bored, but he was trying his hardest not to show it, as such it was near completely obvious, but Amy still felt the sentiment of him trying.

As they sat there eating, Amy once again found herself looking up and staring into his strong blue eyes, he would then meet her gaze, they would hold it for a few moments and then they would both chuckle, before returning to their meal. Amy sighed as she thought about how this trip had gone. Sure apart from there moments together on the first night, they hadn't really done anything more than they usually did. They spent time together, they talked, they went lectures and they ate together. It was nothing more than they normally did. But Amy couldn't complain, she had gotten several more interment moments and that was more than she usually got. But what had really made her happy was how Sheldon had reacted, for nearly the first time in their whole relationship he had wanted to be interment with her. It may have been more out of concern and worry than attraction, but regardless it was a start.

* * *

After dinner, there was another important lecture in the main auditorium. Amy was especially looking forward to this one, as it was detailing a new discovery that might help detect Alzheimer's disease earlier on. However Sheldon wasn't interested. "Do you mind if I miss this lecture?" he asked. Both of them knew he wasn't really asking if he didn't want to go he would just not turn up. Amy shrugged, "go ahead." She said. Sheldon walked off, while Amy walked into the auditorium and took a seat in the third row. Sitting down she felt a bit disappointed to have to hear this lecture alone. Still Sheldon was Sheldon, and as much as he found Neurobiology interesting, it would probably never be any use to him. Amy sometimes secretly hoped that one day he would take up studying it, that way they could one day work together. But she knew how much he loved physics and he would never try to force her to stop what he loved, so why would she? Amy just shrugged and sat down to enjoy the lecture.

Sheldon decided to get some fresh air, so he walked out of the hotel and down the path. It was a cool night, it was only seven thirty, but it was already quite dark. Sheldon kept a close eye on the area around him. You could never be too careful; multiple studies suggest that only fifty per cent of the insane and dangerous were caught. That meant the other fifty was out alone patrolling the streets, looking for victims.

Sheldon shuddered. Now he was on the subject of the insane that reminded him there was a lecture on problems with are currant standards on insanity the next day that he wanted to go to. Sheldon always enjoyed hearing lectures on subjects like this, except on one occasion when he was for some bazar reason mistaken for one of the patients and almost carted away. Sheldon shuddered he didn't want to think about it.

He was now behind the hotel they were staying at, near the car park. He walked over to a street light and stood there, the cold air felt refreshing. Sometimes when he needed to he would go on to the roof of his apartment building and would enjoy the fresh air, of course he would quickly leave, it wasn't safe he could catch hypothermia or who knows what else from the germs up there. Still Sheldon stood there in the dark, cold air, smiling as he breathed it in.

Suddenly another man emerged out of the darkness. He was tall, but still a bit shorter than Sheldon; he was also lean and had black hair. He was dressed semi-casual. He stood there for a moment in silence, before asking "got a light mate?" Sheldon pulled a box of matches out of his pocket and handed it to the man. The man lit his cigarette, took a puff and handed the box back.

"You want one?" he asked offer his pack, "I don't smoke." Sheldon replied. The man stared at him, "why do you carry matches if you don't smoke?" he asked in surprise. "In case the electricity fails us in some form of disaster. That way I can start a fire to stay warm." Sheldon replied. The man gave him a funny look, before shrugging and taking another puff.

Sheldon wasn't interested in having a conversation; he doubted this man would be interested or even know enough to warrant a conversation between the two. Still the man didn't pick up this vibe. "So you here for the conference?" he asked. "Yes I am." Sheldon said, the man nodded, "me too," he said. For a moment his interest was caught, "are you a neuroscientist?" he asked mostly out of curtsy. "What no," the man replied "my girlfriend is through and she dragged me to this talk. Why are you here?" "My girlfriend's a neurobiologist." Sheldon replied.

The guy nodded, "I'd rather not have come," he said, "but you know how it is, if you want something back you have to give something first." Sheldon nodded, he normally had to give up his precious time for others, not that they were ever grateful. "My girlfriends in a lecture right now," the man went on, "I've been listening to them all day, and I managed to convince her to let me sit this one out."

Sheldon nodded, "I did the same," he said, he was surprised to share so much with this man, "I'm Sheldon by the way," he said, "I'm Jim," the man replied. Sheldon smiled he liked Jim, a shortening of the Anglican James, it was the first name of Captain Kirk, his second favourite star trek captain, plus for some reason he had always felt that it would suit him to be called James, either that or Joseph. Not that he disliked his name of course. Still for some reason both seemed appropriate.

"So what do you do for a living?" Jim asked, "I'm a senior theoretical particle physicist at Caltech, focusing on M-theory, or, in layman's words, string theory." Sheldon replied. Jim looked at him in surprise. "Wow." He mummed "that's incredible, so your one of those boffins who's working out how this universe is held together?" he asked, it was an inaccurate description, but Sheldon was in a good mood so he didn't bother correcting him, "Sure," he casually replied. "What do you do?" "I'm just a security guard at the university where my girlfriend works, that's how we met." He replied. "Well that's a good profession," Sheldon replied, "you help protect some of the most important things and people in the world."

Jim chuckled, "sure, if you want to look at it that way." He said. He smiled, before taking a final breath and tossing the dead head of the cigarette into a bin, "isn't it funny," he murmured. "What?" Sheldon asked. "You're a genius, I'm a labourer, yet here we are just two guys who got dragged along to something by are girlfriends." Sheldon was going to correct the man, in that he had wanted to come to this lecture, he had just underestimated how many lectures there would be, but the man continued speaking. "But hey, isn't that the consistency of this universe? Were all same really, it doesn't matter if your smart or dumb, rich or poor, shady or straight, it doesn't matter your colour, creed or birth, when it comes to it were all men and women. And in relationships we all find are selves in the same situations every so often, just like every other normal person out there."

Sheldon was surprised by his words. "Well I better get going," the man said, "see you around Sheldon." And with that he walked off, Sheldon stood there under the pale light of the street lamp, thinking about what the man had just said.

* * *

Amy walked up the stairs back to her room. She smiled as she thought about the lecture, how Sheldon could have wanted to miss it she would never understand. Amy had felt a bit odd having to go to a lecture on her own for the first time since she got her. A few people who she had met, even asked where Sheldon was when she had come out, but it was only one lecture. Amy sighed. Arriving at the room she opened the door.

The room was dark, but the TV was on. Sheldon sat on the sofa just staring at it. Amy walked over to him. At first she assumed he had found one of his beloved star wars trek thingy's, but as she got closer she realised he wasn't watching anything, he was just sitting there wide eyed. The program that was on wasn't even remotely like anything he would watch, it looked like a romantic comedy.

"Sheldon?" Amy asked, slightly worried "are you okay." "I'm fine," Sheldon calmly said. "What are you watching?" she asked, "I don't none, some hokum." Sheldon replied, in an equally calm voice. Something was off; Amy could sense it and it made her feel uneasy. "What's the matter?" she asked. "Nothing's the matter." Sheldon replied, "What would make you think anything's the matter?" Amy gulped and turned the TV off.

Sheldon continued to stare blankly at the grey screen. "What are you thinking about?" Amy asked. "Well about two hours ago, I had an experience that has never happened to me before." Sheldon said. Amy was now quite worried, "what happened?" she asked fearing the worst. Sheldon turned to face her, "someone called me a normal guy." He calmly replied. There was silence, and then Amy chuckled "did they?" Sheldon nodded smiling, "Yes they did." He said, "And it got me thinking." He stood up, "Shall we get ready for bed?" Amy asked.

Sheldon nodded, the two of them were soon finished and lied down next to each other. Amy smiled as she knew what happened next, Sheldon put his arm around her and pulled in close. Following her night terror on the first night, they now slept with his arm round her. She had suggested it simply as an idea and to her surprise Sheldon agreed, saying if it made he feel safer at night he was okay with it. So she snuggled up to her boyfriend, once again feeling her soft cheek against his strong chest. Amy smiled, if she had been able to tell herself from four days ago this was going to happen when she had come out here, she doubted she would believe her. Smiling she was soon asleep.

Sheldon however continued to lay there, the idea of being called a normal person was something he had never heard before. He had never liked the idea of being considered ordinary; he was beyond all…near all others. And yet what really struck him was the way, Jim's words rung round his head. "You're a genius, I'm a labourer, yet here we are just two guys who got dragged along to something by are girlfriends… And in relationships we all find are selves in the same situations every so often, just like every other normal person out there." It was not him as a person being considered normal, merely his actions towards his place in his relationship.

And that intrigued Sheldon, he had little interest the conventions of normal relationships, nor for that matter had he ever really expected he would find himself in any sort of romantic relationship, let alone a normal one. But the idea that what he was doing was normal for a relationship still intrigued him, was that a good thing or not? And for the first time in his life he had to admit, but only to himself, that he didn't know. He fell asleep still thinking this.

* * *

Leonard began to knock on Penny's door. There was almost animistic groaning sound and the door slowly opened. Penny stood there, having clearly just gotten out of bed; her eyes draped "what?" she asked. "We better get going?" "It's the middle of the night." Penny groaned, "Its eight thirty in the morning," Leonard replied sceptically. "Why do we have leave so early?" she asked. "It takes four hours to get there by car." Leonard said. Penny stared him, "four hours." She screamed, "You didn't tell me that."

"I thought you knew," he said. Penny groaned, "Do we really have to leave so early, what time is Amy's lecture?" "Four in the afternoon," Leonard replied. "So why do we have leave now?" Penny snapped, "Well we want to be there in plenty of time for…" "Were leave at eleven." Penny groaned before closing her door. Leonard stood there, and shrugged, he had sort of hoped wanting to leave early would put her off the idea of going, oh well. He walked back to his apartment; he had almost three hours to himself.

* * *

Sheldon and Amy had already gotten up and were eating breakfast. Today was the day of Amy's lecture. Amy had until four, before she had to go on. After finishing breakfast she spent a good portion of the morning preparing everything, so she would be ready. Sheldon had offered to help, but she had refuted his offer, she needed to focus.

Sheldon accepted this and decided to go and listen to that lecture on Insanity he had wanted to hear. It was one twenty-five by the time it finished. Walking back to his room he found Amy sitting on the bed still organising papers. "How you doing?" he asked. "Almost finished," Amy replied not looking up. As time had gotten on, Sheldon was hungry. "Well do you want to break for lunch?" Amy looked up. She was also hungry, but she was so close to finishing, logically it would be better to finish this job, rather than take a rest period and finish it later.

"Not just yet, if you're hungry, go ahead." Sheldon paused; he didn't really want to start lunch without her. But then he shouldn't force her to stop working. Sheldon sighed, "See you down there." He said and went off to lunch. It took Amy twenty more minutes, but she was finally finished. By this point Amy was almost starving. Sheldon of course would have finished lunch and left, meaning she would have to eat alone, still at least all her work was finished.

To her surprise she saw Sheldon sitting at a table, his food was in front of him but it was untouched. Slowly she walked over unsure. Sheldon looked up, "oh good you're here, we can begin." "You waited for me?" Amy asked surprised at this. Sheldon had never waited for her before, if she was even a few minutes later he would simply start without her, that's how he had always done, why had he waited for her this time?

Amy kept thinking about it while she ate. She kept waiting for Sheldon to give some explanation for this sudden change in his behaviour, but strangely, they ate in silence. It was like both of them were waiting for the other to start a conversation. After they had finished eating, still neither of them spoke.

Amy was just getting up, when Sheldon finally spoke up. "Amy." He said, "As there is just under two hours till your lecture, would you like to accompany me on a walk through the hotel gardens?" Amy stared at Sheldon surprised at this request, but you never looked a gift horse in the mouth.

"I would love to," Amy said. So after lunch the two of them went for a walk in the large gardens behind the hotel, it was a cool day, but the sun was still shinning. Despite this it was getting cloudy and it was the wrong season for flowers. But neither of them really minded. They had gotten to the middle of the garden, seeing a bench they sat down.

Amy turned to Sheldon; her curiosity was too much for her. "Why are we doing this?" Amy asked. Sheldon turned to face her, "if you're not enjoying it, we can go in." He said calmly, "No, I mean why are we out on a walk together? I know we spend a lot time together, doing a variety of things, but we've never been on a walk through a garden before."

"All the more reason for us to do so, if we continued to repeat the same things without any breaks we could lose interest in them." Sheldon said. Amy had to agree to this, she could tell there was more to this though. "Shall we begin walking back?" Sheldon asked. Looking at her clock, Amy found it was almost three, and she wanted plenty of time before to make sure she was ready and she also needed some time to prepare for her lecture. "Okay." She said.

There was a large pond in the garden, with a bridge going over it. It was a direct route back to the hotel; the only other ways back were around the pond. As such Amy wanted to try it, but Sheldon wasn't so sure. "It looks old and rickety." He said, "are you sure it's safe to cross." Amy rolled her eyes, "Sheldon it's perfectly safe." She could never understand why her boyfriend was so paranoid. Amy walked up onto the bridge "see," she said. "I weight a lot more than you do." Sheldon said unconvinced by this gesture.

Amy hung her head, "If only that was true." She said sadly. Sheldon paused for a moment, and then caught her drift. "You're not overweight," Sheldon said feeling a bit guilty for bringing up the topic, being aware that Amy was sensitive about her weight. "Nine stone is perfectly reasonable for a woman of your age and build." Amy looked up at him "I weight ten stone and three pounds." Amy said with a sigh, "that is still perfectly acceptable," Sheldon said calmly, "Amy there's nothing wrong with your weight or how you look." "Maybe" Amy said as she walked along the bridge, "or maybe…"

She didn't get to finish, at that moment the boards beneath her feet gave way and Amy plummeted into the water, screaming all the way down. "AMY" Sheldon screamed, she went straight under. Sheldon didn't know how to swim and due to an unnaturally high body density couldn't float. But at this moment he didn't care.

He ran straight towards the water, jumped off the bank and landed in it. His first response was that the water was freezing. He was also amazed at how deep the water was, he was standing in the shallowest part and it already went half way up his neck. Sheldon shuddered at the thought of what might be lurking in the murky water, but he pushed these thoughts to the side as right now he didn't care. Amy's head bobbed up suddenly.

She choked and gasped for air, before falling down again. Sheldon partially ran, partially something else altogether, through the water towards her. As he went in the water got deeper, it went from his chin up to his mouth. He paused where had she gone? The water all looked the same. Sheldon didn't stop to think, he took a deep breath before diving down. The water was murky and dirty, but fortunately he could feel the sudden currents against his face, which were being generated by Amy frantically tried to get back to the surface.

Sheldon rushed forward through the water as fast as he could. Seizing Amy with both hands he hoisted her up. Her woollen clothing was soaked with water and weighted a ton, but Sheldon didn't care. Pulling her up he managed to get her head above the water level and hold her there. Amy began gasping frantically. However already his arms were straining under the weight. Sheldon knew he couldn't keep this up forever and there was no one else around to help them out.

There was only one thing he could do. Through his nose Sheldon took another deep breath, and dived down again, for a moment letting go of Amy. He then dived under her and stood up quickly. Fortunately he had positioned himself just right and came up with Amy resting roughly on his shoulders. With both arms he grabbed her legs to steady her. The strain of supporting the weight hurt his back, he had to bend slightly which meant only his eyes were above water level and Amy's Skirt was taught against the back of his head but Sheldon was too worried to care. Slowly he walked across the bottom of the pond towards the bank.

Arriving he pushed Amy of onto the grass bank, before straightening up, taking another deep breath and then pulling himself up onto the bank. They both laid there for a moment, Sheldon was exhausted. He was fortunately in better shape than you would expect, or else he wouldn't have been able to manage that. Amy was however in shock, falling suddenly from a bridge, being plunged into freezing cold, murky black water and dragged to the bottom by your own clothing was enough to terrify anyone. So they just lay there in silence.

Sheldon groaned he knew they could just lie on the bank, they were both soaking wet, they would catch pneumonia if they stayed in these wet clothes, or worse. Who knew what was in that water. "Come on," he groaned, heaving himself to his feet, his body felt like it was made of lead, his muscles really ached, "we have to go in." Amy didn't speak she was still in shock. Using his left hand he pulled Amy to her feet. The two were about to begin there walk back; when Sheldon's eyes spotted something, he tapped Amy on the shoulder. Turning she spotted a plaque on the side of the bridge, it read "ornamental bridge, not for use, do not walk on." Amy's face turned pink. The two walked in silence back to their hotel room.

* * *

Penny groaned, it been long journey. Sitting in a car for almost four hours was mind numbingly boring, especially as she wasn't driving. They had taken Leonards car, as Leonard was afraid her car wouldn't make it and would break down stranding them in the middle of nowhere. And despite Penny assuring him that would never happen… again, they had still taken his car. Still they were getting close now. Or at least that's what the GPS said. A few more miles and they would arrive. Penny sort of regretted insisting the go to this lecture, but Amy was a good friend, she could do with the support. Of course the fact she would have to sit through the lecture, made Penny kind of worried.

She sometimes wondered how her closest circle of friends had become a circle of geniuses and what had happened to her normal, average level intelligence friends who could talk about their days without having to repeat everything in a translated or dumbed down fashion, and who she could have a conversation with, that didn't involve her looking through the dictionary after they had left, to grasp the thirty per cent she hadn't understood. Not that she was stupid, it was just she was average, okay maybe just below average; standing next some of the smartest people on earth, by that criteria near anyone would look dumber. Still she could make it, one hour wasn't that long, and if the worst came to the worst she could always leave and claim she simply wasn't feeling too good. Penny smiled, as she wondered what Amy was doing right now.

* * *

Amy groaned as she stepped out of the shower, grabbing a towel she wrapped around herself, taking another she dried her hair and legs, when she was finished drying herself she stepped out of the bathroom. Sheldon was lying there on the bed, he had already gotten changed. But he was still tired from carrying Amy out of pound and was having a lie down to recover. Amy looked at him, as she did she felt both embarrassed and in awe. She was embarrassed at her foolishness, but he had saved her life, if it wasn't for him she would have drowned. He had risked his life for her and considering how highly he valued his life in comparison to all others that really touched her.

If she hadn't tried to walk across that stupid bridge, she would never have fallen in. And in doing so she almost got them both killed. Amy hung her head. But she had to put these emotions aside, she had to go to her lecture, it was already twenty to four. That didn't really leave her much time to prepare herself, but she would have to make do. But first she needed to get dressed, Amy sighed as she walked over to her draws. She opened one, only to discover it was empty. Amy was confused for a second then it suddenly dawned on her; she had only brought two outfits, because she was only staying three days.

Amy just stood there, before finally collapsing onto the bed, she began to sob. Her cries awoke Sheldon, who found his girlfriend, naked but a towel sitting upon the bed sobbing. "What's wrong?" he asked. "I don't have any clothes left to wear." Amy replied. "Didn't you bring a spare pair in case of emergencies?" Sheldon asked. Amy shook her head. Sheldon gulped, Amy was going through another emotional episode, which he had learned from this trip apparently happened to her more often than he had thought, she need support not criticism.

"Don't worry," Sheldon said, "you can borrow some of my clothes, I always bring plenty spare." And with that he took his shirt of and handed it to her. "Here," he said handing it to her. He then turned away to let Amy put it on. Turning back he was met with an interesting sight. As Sheldon was quite a bit larger than Amy, his shirt went all the way down to halfway above her knees. He had of course been wearing one of his smarter shirts, as this was a formal occasion and on Amy it looked sort of like a dress. It was somewhat baggy as he was wider than Amy, but not too much. It was a blue shirt, with short sleeves, however as his arms were quite a bit longer than Amy's, it meant that most of her arms was covered.

Amy looked at herself in the mirror the shirt felt on her body, but also strangely warm and that made her feel better. However when she caught sight of her reflection it once again wrecked her mood. Her hair was mess, her skin was pale and she was wearing nothing but Sheldon's shirt, she couldn't do her lecture like this. "I'll have to cancel the lecture," Amy said sadly. Sheldon had to admit she was right, no one would take her seriously if she tried to give a lecture wearing clothes that were five sizes too big. Amy made a call to the desk.

"I told I wasn't well and was unable to do the lecture." Amy said sadly. Sheldon sighed, "This is all my fault," he said sadly, "if I hadn't convinced you to go on that walk, you would be able to go to your lecture, and you wouldn't have almost…" he trailed off, and just sat there looking gloomy. Amy stared at him. "You save my life." She said, "If it wasn't for you I would have drowned." "If it wasn't for me you wouldn't have been in that situation in the first place." Sheldon replied. "It's not your fault. It's my fault for not noticing I was walking over deep water on an ornamental bridge." Amy countered. "Sheldon, all you did was save my life, you're a hero."

Sheldon shook his, "me, a hero?" he said sceptically. "Well what you call someone who rescues damsels in distress at the potential cost of their own life?" Amy asked. Sheldon was silenced. "I suppose it was a bit heroic," he said. "Still, I'm not a hero, the whole time I was terrified." "And you still didn't stop, you didn't even hesitate." Amy said, "Sheldon you are a hero, and are never forget that you saved me, never."

Sheldon shrugged, "you would have done the same for me," he said, "that is if you possessed my physical attributes, height and ability to hold my breath for longer than average, due to years of practice when I was dunked headfirst in the river." Amy chuckled slightly; she nuzzled in closer, almost if it was instinct Sheldon found him coiling his arm around her holding her there. It was almost as if his fear of germs had vanished, no Sheldon knew that wasn't true, his fears were all present and correct it just seemed to dampen when it meant holding Amy. Sheldon of course was bare chested as he had given Amy his shirt, and Amy was wearing nothing but his shirt. The feel of the two's bodies was unusually exposed, but that didn't stop them, in fact it made them both tingle slightly.

"I've got to know," Amy said, "why did you want to go for that walk in the garden?" Sheldon sighed, "Well you remember last night?" Sheldon asked, "When you were called ordinary for the first time in your life?" Amy asked unsure where this was going. "Well to be truthful, I wasn't ordinary because I was a person; I was ordinary because of how I was acting in certain regards with to my relationship with you."

Amy was a bit shocked by this, she would never have said their relationship was ordinary and that was the way they liked it. "Well," Sheldon said somewhat sheepishly, "I gave that a great deal of thought, and I decided if how I was acting was ordinary in a relationship, then I should try to keep it up and the notion of taking ones lady for a walk in green has been considered romantic for the last several hundred years, I assumed it would give you a similar reaction."

Amy stared at him, her smile widening, "that's so sweet." She said. "Maybe," Sheldon replied, "well I better go get some more spare clothes out those cases I left in your car." Sheldon was about to move to get up, but Amy stopped him. "Hold on," she said "before you do, do mind if I do something first?" "Okay, what?" Sheldon asked. Amy leaned in and kissed him. As their lips met, once again the same tingling sensation passed through both their bodies, and as they were holding themselves so close they could both feel as the others heart rate began to increase and their skin got warmer.

Amy pulled back and looked at Sheldon waiting his response, she expected him to say "fascinating" or "I'll now get those clothes" but instead he was silent. His face showed he was thinking, at that very moment, multiple thoughts were going through Sheldon's mind; massive tumblers were clicking into place. The experiences of the previous days, his unusual thoughts and feelings, everything just clicked into place and for one moment he had tranquillity.

Sheldon's eyes suddenly snapped back into life, suddenly his arms move and he flipped Amy in his arms, so she was lying back in them, looking up their eyes met and in a second they both snapped into the exact same place. Both smiled. Sheldon leaned in and once again the two kissed.

* * *

A couple of minutes earlier, Leonard and Penny arrived at the hotel, "well it's almost four, so Amy should be speaking soon." Leonard said, "We just made it." The two of them walked in and up to the front desk. "Can I help you?" the man behind the desk asked, "Yes," Leonard said, "I was wondering with room will Dr Farah Fowler giving her lecture in." the man looked at him "I'm sorry," he said, "but Dr Farah Fowler's lecture has been cancelled."

"Cancelled?" Leonard and Penny said at once, both shocked at traveling all this way for nothing. "Yes it appears Dr Farah Fowler is ill and can't do the lecture." The man said, "Poor Amy," Penny mummed "falling ill all this way from home." "In that case, we better goes see her, which room is she in?" Leonard asked, "That would be room 314." The man said, "thank you," Leonard replied, "and while we're here, you better tell us what room Dr Sheldon Cooper is staying in as well."

"He is in room 314" the clerk replied, Leonard nodded he turned around then it sunk in. "Hold on, that's the same room you said Amy was staying in." "I know the man replied," Leonard and Penny stared for a moment then the penny dropped "you mean there sharing a room?" Leonard asked shocked. "Don't sound so surprised," the clerk said, "it's not that uncommon these days, there both grown adults, I'm sure they know what they're getting themselves into."

Leonard and Penny were stunned by what they had heard, Sheldon and Amy where sharing a room together at a hotel? They Sheldon and Amy? She they could understand, but how on earth had he ended up in the same room with her?

"There must be an explanation," Leonard said, "they probably just doing it to cut the costs, this is a nice hotel it's probably expensive to book a room here." Penny nodded, "sure, that's probably it." She said in a distant voice. As the two of them continued to walk up the stairs, they kept reassuring each other that that must be the explanation, as accepting the alternative would shake them beyond belief.

As they were getting to the top, having finally convinced each other there conversation turned to the subject of if Amy was ill how Sheldon would react. "Well last time, he didn't seem to mind looking after her." Leonard said, "and then she spent several weeks pretending to she was still ill so he would keep looking after her." Penny replied, "I'm pretty sure that's…" she trailed off.

Up ahead one of the doors had opened and Sheldon walked out. Leonard was about to call out, when Penny grabbed him and pulled him round the corner. "What's that for?" Leonard asked, Penny didn't respond, the two of them stuck there heads round the wall and watched. Sheldon was bare chested, he was also clearly exhausted, as his shoulders were slumped and he was dragging his heals. He was slightly red faced and had clearly been sweating. And despite it all he was smiling. That sort of cheeky smile you see on a teenagers face, the day after they first time they get lucky.

Suddenly Amy came running out of the room and practically jumped at him. Amy was wearing Sheldon's shirt, which only went down to halfway above her knees and looked several sizes too big. And it was clear that it was all she was wearing. Her hair was messy, she was slightly red faced as well and had the same sought of smile. Sheldon pulled her in close and then the two kissed right there in the middle of the hallway. Penny's eyes were as wide as plates. She spun back and sunk against the wall.

Oh My God she mouthed grabbing Leonards shoulder, "Oh My god," and with that she began excitedly hitting his she shoulder. "Ow," he said. "Shut up!" she forcefully whispered in a way that was logically inconsistent. Spinning round she watched the two. They had released each other now, "don't take too long." Amy said. "I won't," Sheldon replied and with that Amy went back into the room and Sheldon walked off to the elevator.

Penny and Leonard just sat there shocked. "They couldn't have." He murmured, "Then what do you call all that?" Penny asked, Leonard racked his brains for some explanation, but he couldn't find one. "They couldn't have," he managed again. They continued to sit there trying to think things through. Penny turned towards Leonard. "Leonard," she said worried. "Yes?" he asked, "something just occurred to me, as Amy's clearly not sick, which means they missed her lecture to…" Penny cut off.

"What do we do now?" Leonard asked. Penny paused, "let's go." She said. "But it took us so long to get here." Leonard groaned Penny shot him a look. "It's best if we leave them alone." She said and with that they left. They were over thirty miles away when they finally spoke about it again. "Okay, we don't know for definite that they did…it." Leonard managed, "well what else could have happened?" Penny asked.

"Well… they could have… maybe… okay I've got nothing, but this is Sheldon Cooper, six days ago he wouldn't even let her touch him, you can't expect me to believe that after just three days he has completely given changed his mind." "I don't know," Penny mummed, "sometimes couples just need to be left alone together for a while and everything just falls into place."

"Normal couples," Leonard said, "this is Sheldon and Amy we're talking about. You seem to be forgetting that both of them are borderline insane." "That's a bit hash," Penny said, "It's true, but it's still hash." "The point is, we don't know what happened, and we shouldn't jump to conclusion. It's still possible that they didn't do it." Leonard said, "But what if they did?" Penny asked. Once again they fell into silence.

* * *

Sheldon smiled as he unloaded his cases from Amy's car, they had of course had to leave quite quickly after telling they couldn't do the lecture. Fortunately Sheldon's clothes had been bearable for Amy to wear till she got home. She looked quite funny in them, even with them folded in and tied up, so they fit her as best as they could. While they were checking out she had gotten out of few funny looks. One guy had even told them they probably shouldn't dress alike; as it wasn't healthy and would end up ruining their relationship.

By the time they got home it was already getting dark. Sheldon carried his cases into the lobby. Amy still couldn't lift them but she still went with him, she needed to. Sheldon placed his cases at the foot of the stairs, he turned to face Amy. For a moment there was silence, and then Amy spoke "Sheldon, in light of are weekend, don't you think we need to discuss certain factors and how they affect the future of our relationship?"

Sheldon nodded, "I think we can both agree that what happened this weekend has definitely caused some changes," he paused for a moment, "and while I'm normally against change, I think in this instance I can make an exception." He smiled at Amy, "thank you for taking me, I had a lovely weekend." "As did I," Amy replied in total honestly, "except of course when I almost drowned." She quickly added. Sheldon nodded, "still it didn't ruin my weekend," she managed.

Sheldon smiled again, "well how about we talk about all these alterations on Wednesday over dinner? Sheldon asked. "Sure," Amy replied, "great, I'll text you the details tomorrow. You can also give me my clothes back on Wednesday, don't worry about washing them, I'll take care of that when you give them back."" Sheldon said. Amy nodded, "well good by Sheldon Cooper," she said calmly "good bye Amy Farah Fowler," Sheldon replied. The two paused unsure whether or not they should go any further, but as they were both still new to this sudden change to the dynamic of their relationship, they decided around the same time not to push it.

So instead they simply met eyes, Amy stared in Sheldon's big soft blue eyes, while Sheldon stared back in Amy's large kind brown eyes, with sweet gold flakes glistening like individual stars in the sky. As they looked both smiled, and both couldn't help but think about their moments together over the last weekend, which they would both one day call the weekend that changed everything. And then all too soon the gaze was broken and Amy left, but she paused just before she did, just to watch her boyfriend carrying two of the four cases up the stairs, and then she left wondering whether she would ever be able to convince him to do the same to her one day.

* * *

Epilogue: Sheldon pulled the last two cases up the stairs, before putting them down in front of the door, next to the other two. He fumbled with his keys and opened the door, picked up two cases and walked in. The moment he did two pairs of eyes turned on him. Leonard and Penny were sitting at on the sofa, both of them jumped to their feet and rushed over. "Your back." Leonard said, "Finally," Penny said.

Sheldon let out a sigh, "I understand you both must have missed me, but it's only been three days, I'm sure you were okay without me for that length of time." "No, it's not that." Leonard said a bit annoyed. "Sheldon," Penny said "We need to ask you something." Sheldon looked up, evidently some important matter they required his approval over, what would they do without him. "Okay, what do you want to ask me?" he said as he grabbed the other two cases and brought them in.

"It's about your trip," Leonard began, the moment he said that Sheldon chuckled. "Now I don't want to seem like we are prying into your personal affairs, but as your friends I feel were entitled to know…that is to say, it would be very good if you could inform us about any significant advancements in your… well what I mean to say is, well you see… "

"Oh you gabbling twit," Penny groaned, "Sheldon while you were on this trip did you sleep with Amy?" Sheldon paused, he was unsure why they were enquiring about his sleeping arrangements, then he had unusual friends and Sheldon never lied, he turned to them and with a complete straight face said, "I don't see what matter it is of yours, but if you must know, yes, while we were away on that trip, we did share a bed."

Penny choked on her beer; Leonard stared at him shocked, "you did?" he said shocked. "Yes," Sheldon replied, "don't over react it isn't really that big a thing." "How can you say it's not a big thing?" Penny screamed, "You just slept together for the first time!" "I know," Sheldon calmly said, I was there, now if you excuse me have to unpack." Sheldon grabbed a case, but there weren't letting him get away so easily.

"Hold on," Penny screamed, "there is so much you haven't said?" Sheldon sighed, and when he wanted to ask questions they told him to shut up, evidently they wouldn't give him any peace until he answered there questions. "What do you want to know?" Sheldon asked.

"Well how did it happen? What was it like? Was it once? Will you do it again? What did Amy think of it? How does it change your relationship?" Penny was basically firing every question she could think off. Sheldon cut her off at that point

"If you must know, an error put us in the same room and things went from there. It was confusing, unusual and left me with a lot unsure responses, but I can't say I didn't enjoy it. If you must know, it was every night. Maybe someday, but for the moment I think were content sticking to our own beds. She was over joyed with the idea and I think she enjoyed lying next to me, especially when I held her close. And if you must know we will be talking over how this and the other more important things we did on Wednesday over dinner, now if you excuse me I have to unpack." And with that Sheldon took two of his cases off to his room, leaving his friends to wrap there minds around and speculate what "the other more important things" they did were.

As Sheldon unpacked, he couldn't help but wonder why they had made such a big thing out of them sharing a bed, after all it wasn't like it went any further than that.

* * *

**Well that's it, my first story finished. I hope the ending was to much of a let down. And if you liked this, keep your eye out as I intend to write several more Shamy stories, quiet soon.**

**Please review.**


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